Patronize CBN-licenced BDC operators – ABCON

By Kayode Tokede

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has advised foreign exchange users and the general public to patronize only the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licenced bureaux de change (BDCs) to get dollars the approved rate.

In a statement issued at the weekend, ABCON President, Alhaji (Dr) Aminu Gwadabe, said only CBN-licenced BDCs operate with regulatory guidelines of sallying dollars at approved rate.

Gwadabe advised members of the public to always patronise CBN license BDCs  which are regulatory-compliant and operate within international best practices.

He said that parallel market activities have for years become major drivers of the exchange rates and control over such transactions have become burdensome.

He said that forex speculators are capitalizing on the state of the foreign exchange market and the naira to sell dollars above CBN approved margin.

Gwadabe said that CBN-licenced BDCs are not selling dollars to end-users above the N2 per dollar margin set by the financial sector regulator  to protect the naira against foreign exchange speculators and ensure exchange rate stability.

The ABCON Executive Council has therefore denied the report, claiming that the CBN-licenced BDCs bought dollars at N393 to the dollar and sold at N494 to the dollar, representing N101 margin.

The ABCON Executive Council has therefore brought the inaccurate report to the attention of the Nigerian Press Council, urging it  to call those responsible for the misleading report to order.

The ABCON said it was constrained to bring to the attention of the Nigerian Press Council  to advise those misleading the public to diligently observe in whatever they published the professional ethics of accuracy, truthfulness and the right of every individual and organisation to fair hearing.”